1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical terminal connector having a bearing surface and a guiding surface on a wire receiving end, the bearing surface and guiding surface cooperating to facilitate insertion of a conductor into the electrical connector.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide holes in a terminal block that have a groove at the bottom of a larger wire receiving opening for accepting a smaller wire in the groove. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,094 issued on Jan. 11, 1966, to Stanback, et al., or the U.S. Pat. No. 3,638,173 issued on Jan. 25, 1972 to Middendorf, et al. In either patent, the larger wire receiving opening does not have a bearing surface or a defined guiding surface for facilitating the insertion of a conductor into the wire receiving opening. It has been found by the inventor of the instant invention that the groove for the smaller wire can catch a strand of a conductor and thus hinder the insertion of the conductor into the larger wire receiving opening. Therefore, there is a great need for an electrical terminal connector that has a bearing surface for receiving a cut end of a conductor thereupon and at least one wire guiding surface defined into the connector wherein the wire guiding surface is disposed tangent to at least a portion of a wire receiving opening.
It is also known to provide a chamfer on the input side of the stud mount opening for connecting a terminal block to a transformer, however, there is no chamfer on the conductor ports to facilitate insertion of the conductor thereinto. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 6,579,131 issued on Jun. 17, 2003 to Ashcraft, et al. Accordingly, there is still a need for an electrical terminal connector that has at least one wire guiding surface defined into the wire receiving opening.
It is further known to provide a polygonal opening in an electrical connector for a conductor, however, no bearing surface or guiding surface is provided. For instance, see U.S. Pat. D 487,062 S issued on Feb. 24, 2004 to Gary D. Foster. The polygonal opening creates numerous sharp edges which catch strands of a conductor thus hindering insertion of the conductor into the opening. Thus, there remains a need for an electrical terminal connector that at least has a wire guiding surface tangent to at least a portion of a wire receiving opening.
Additionally, it is known to provide a pedestal connector bar that has a plurality of lay-in openings for receiving distribution cables. Each lay-in opening has an oblique entry channel and a semicircular bottom wherein the cables are secured against the semicircular bottom by a set screw disposed through one wall of the oblique entry channel. For instance, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,905 issued on Apr. 6, 1993 to David R. Fillinger or the U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,384, issued on Mar. 20, 2001 to Robert DeFrance. The oblique entry channel is effective for insertion of the side edge of the cable, however, no improvement is shown for insertion of the cut end of the cable. In fact, the Fillinger patent teaches that insertion of the cut end of the cable into a round hole without a facilitating entry port remains from the prior art. Hence, there still is a need for an electrical terminal connector that has at least a wire guiding surface tangent to at least one portion of a wire receiving opening.
Finally, it is known to provide an electrical connector that comprises a body and an elongated tang, the body having upper, central and lower portions. A wire receiving opening is disposed through the central body and terminates in the tang. A set screw is disposed through the upper body portion to clamp the wire into the opening. The central body portion is claimed to be smaller than the set screw to allow the clamped conductor to expand beyond the edges of the central portion to increase the clamping force. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,405 issued on Aug. 7, 1990 to William J. Boehm, or the U.S. Pat. D 309,129 issued on Jul. 10, 1990 to David M. Ottmann. Since the central body portion is made smaller than the set screw, a channel exists at the wire receiving opening, however, a close inspection of the patent shows that Boehm and Ottmann teach that the bottom of the channel is disposed below the wire receiving opening thus creating another sharp edge to catch a strand of a conductor thereupon. Consequently, there continues to be a great need for an electrical terminal connector that has at least a wire guiding surface tangent to at least one portion of a wire receiving opening.